Menu
Blog Archives
Legal Sector Loses 1500 Jobs in August
September 23, 2018
That's what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found in its August 2018 jobs report. It reflects the second straight month of declines in legal sector jobs (here). For purposes of tallying the total number of legal sector jobs, the BLS includes paralegals, legal secretaries and similar positions such as limited license legal technicians in its calculations. The American Lawyer has more details about this month's BLS report and what it suggests about larger trends in the job marketplace here.
September 23, 2018
That's what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found in its August 2018 jobs report. It reflects the second straight month of declines in legal sector jobs (here). For purposes of tallying the total number of legal sector jobs, the BLS includes paralegals, legal secretaries and similar positions such as limited license legal technicians in its calculations. The American Lawyer has more details about this month's BLS report and what it suggests about larger trends in the job marketplace here.
Notice Provisions for Texas Lawyers
September 23, 2018
For some time Texas has been a hot market for lawyers. Big firms from other parts of the country who want to shop here not surprisingly will hire lawyers from other big firms that are already here. Many of the partners in these firms have notice provisions in their partnership agreements that require them to provide notice to their firm of their departure. A recent Texas Lawyer article highlighted the issue: Shearman & Sterling, which moved into Texas in March in Austin, didn’t open...
September 23, 2018
For some time Texas has been a hot market for lawyers. Big firms from other parts of the country who want to shop here not surprisingly will hire lawyers from other big firms that are already here. Many of the partners in these firms have notice provisions in their partnership agreements that require them to provide notice to their firm of their departure. A recent Texas Lawyer article highlighted the issue: Shearman & Sterling, which moved into Texas in March in Austin, didn’t open...
July 2018 Multistate Bar Exam Scores Collapse To 34-Year Low
September 22, 2018
National Conference of Bar Examiners, July 2018 Average MBE Scores Decrease: The national average MBE score for July 2018 was 139.5, a decrease of about 2.2 points from the July 2017 average: This is the lowest score since 1984. 45,274 examinees sat for the Multistate Bar Examination in July 2018. This represents 2.9% fewer examinees than those who sat for the July 2017 exam, and is the smallest group of examinees to take the July MBE since 2001.
September 22, 2018
National Conference of Bar Examiners, July 2018 Average MBE Scores Decrease: The national average MBE score for July 2018 was 139.5, a decrease of about 2.2 points from the July 2017 average: This is the lowest score since 1984. 45,274 examinees sat for the Multistate Bar Examination in July 2018. This represents 2.9% fewer examinees than those who sat for the July 2017 exam, and is the smallest group of examinees to take the July MBE since 2001.
EY (With 2,200 Lawyers) Seeks To Disrupt BigLaw With Acquisition Of Alternative Legal Services Tech Company
September 22, 2018
American Lawyer, The Big Four’s Recent Acquisition in the Legal Market is a Big Deal: There has been much talk in the past year that the Big Four were sniffing around the alternative legal services (ALSP) market looking for an acquisition. Many legal market watchers, including your (humble) analyst, publicly stated that they expected at least one Big Four-led acquisition into the ALSP space in 2018. That wait is now over. EY announced on August 7th that they will acquire...
September 22, 2018
American Lawyer, The Big Four’s Recent Acquisition in the Legal Market is a Big Deal: There has been much talk in the past year that the Big Four were sniffing around the alternative legal services (ALSP) market looking for an acquisition. Many legal market watchers, including your (humble) analyst, publicly stated that they expected at least one Big Four-led acquisition into the ALSP space in 2018. That wait is now over. EY announced on August 7th that they will acquire...
The Topography of Civil Litigation and Plaintiff Attorneys’ Role
September 21, 2018
Civil law is enforced primarily via private litigation. One characteristic of private enforcement is that litigation levels...
September 21, 2018
Civil law is enforced primarily via private litigation. One characteristic of private enforcement is that litigation levels...
No Proof Blind Plaintiffs Aware Of Arbitration Clause, So Discrimination Class Action Proceeds In Court
September 21, 2018
The First Circuit just faced a fascinating formation issue: if a customer cannot see what she is signing, and no employee reads it to her or ensures she knows there are legal terms, is there a contract? With Justice Souter sitting by designation on the panel, the court answered “no,” and thereby kept a class action in the courts. National Federation of the Blind v. The Container Store, Inc., 2018 WL 4378174 (1st Cir. Sept. 14, 2018). The Container Store case involves blind plaintiffs who allege...
September 21, 2018
The First Circuit just faced a fascinating formation issue: if a customer cannot see what she is signing, and no employee reads it to her or ensures she knows there are legal terms, is there a contract? With Justice Souter sitting by designation on the panel, the court answered “no,” and thereby kept a class action in the courts. National Federation of the Blind v. The Container Store, Inc., 2018 WL 4378174 (1st Cir. Sept. 14, 2018). The Container Store case involves blind plaintiffs who allege...
Texas Statewide Civil and Family Case Filings and Dispositions
September 20, 2018
Civil and family court filings in Texas have remained relatively stable during the seven full calendar year period since the Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) started compiling data from district and county clerks in its current form: http://card.txcourts.gov/default.aspx. These graphs are captured from a website (www.CourtStatPack.com) we created to interactively display that data in easily customizable charts. New civil and family filings are stable over the OCA reporting period. The...
September 20, 2018
Civil and family court filings in Texas have remained relatively stable during the seven full calendar year period since the Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) started compiling data from district and county clerks in its current form: http://card.txcourts.gov/default.aspx. These graphs are captured from a website (www.CourtStatPack.com) we created to interactively display that data in easily customizable charts. New civil and family filings are stable over the OCA reporting period. The...
Report: Amazon Could Tackle Claims Management Next
September 20, 2018
Amazon has become the go-to for online shopping, it’s foray into digital entertainment has been equally successful. Imagine if the online retailer were to offer insurance services. One company has – Altus Consulting, based in the UK – explored how the retail giant could disrupt the insurance industry. The report, released earlier this year, revealed the Seattle-based firm was recruiting for a product manager position and it had attempted to poach some employees from Lemonade. Signs that...
September 20, 2018
Amazon has become the go-to for online shopping, it’s foray into digital entertainment has been equally successful. Imagine if the online retailer were to offer insurance services. One company has – Altus Consulting, based in the UK – explored how the retail giant could disrupt the insurance industry. The report, released earlier this year, revealed the Seattle-based firm was recruiting for a product manager position and it had attempted to poach some employees from Lemonade. Signs that...
Million Dollar Arbitration Award For Attorneys Vacated Due To Ethical Violation
September 20, 2018
In today’s post I recount an epic battle between the Rules of Professional Conduct (tagline: saving clients from unscrupulous lawyers for over 100 years!) and the Uniform Arbitration Act (tagline: saving arbitration from hostile judges for 60 years!) in the Supreme Court of California. Spoiler alert: the Rules of Professional Conduct win. The story in Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP v. J-M Manufacturing Co.,2018 WL 4137103 (Cal. Aug. 30, 2018), begins with a “large law firm”...
September 20, 2018
In today’s post I recount an epic battle between the Rules of Professional Conduct (tagline: saving clients from unscrupulous lawyers for over 100 years!) and the Uniform Arbitration Act (tagline: saving arbitration from hostile judges for 60 years!) in the Supreme Court of California. Spoiler alert: the Rules of Professional Conduct win. The story in Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP v. J-M Manufacturing Co.,2018 WL 4137103 (Cal. Aug. 30, 2018), begins with a “large law firm”...
It’s Hard To Let Go!
September 19, 2018
One of the hardest things about settling a lawsuit is for the parties to let go. They have spent all this time and energy (mental and emotional) as well as money on it over a period of months (if not years) and now, in the face of an offer to settle that is less than they had hoped for, they are faced with the choice of settling or moving forward towards a trial that they may not win. In other words, they might be “throwing good money after bad”. Many of us feel that we should keep moving...
September 19, 2018
One of the hardest things about settling a lawsuit is for the parties to let go. They have spent all this time and energy (mental and emotional) as well as money on it over a period of months (if not years) and now, in the face of an offer to settle that is less than they had hoped for, they are faced with the choice of settling or moving forward towards a trial that they may not win. In other words, they might be “throwing good money after bad”. Many of us feel that we should keep moving...
